First-known Bowie recording auctioned in Britain

A piece of graffiti of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust in Brixton, London on 20th January 2016. Since his death the mural has been the center of a shrine in his memory.(Shutterstock.com/chrisdorney)

The first-known recording by David Bowie, when he was the 16-year-old singer of a band called The Konrads, sold at auction in Britain on Tuesday for nearly £40,000 ($52,000, 45,000 euros).

Music specialists Omega Auctions, in northwestern England, said "a bidding frenzy" around its memorabilia sale led to the demo tape fetching around four times the expected price of £10,000 when it went under the hammer.

It sold for £39,360, Omega said in a statement posted online.

The tape was discovered earlier this year in a loft, Omega had previously revealed.

The song -- "I Never Dreamed" -- was recorded in a studio in 1963 when The Konrads asked Bowie, then known by his given name David Jones, to sing lead vocals.

Promotional sketches by the then largely unknown Bowie, along with photographs and band documents, also sold for £17,130, while an early The Konrads poster from 1963 went for £6,600, Omega said.

Bowie left The Konrads shortly afterwards and did not achieve stardom until six years later when, already a solo artist, he released "Space Oddity" about the fictional astronaut Major Tom.

Bowie earned a reputation as one of the most innovative voices in rock over a half-century career in which he experimented with soul, disco, jazz and ambient music.